I murmured, “At the wall, we three in front, the rest behind.”
We emerged from a row of tents. I led my mount to the lee of the wall, within easy bowshot. We came to a halt. Never had I seen a battlement so packed with defenders. My rough Norlandic echoed from the sturdy stones. “Hriskil! Come out or be dethroned!”
Anavar gasped. I paid no heed.
I raised myself in the saddle, that all see and hear. “Go home, Hriskil, and I’ll cede you Ghanz! Here, you will die.” I panted for breath, tried to conceal my distress. “You’re no match for the Still. Flee while you can. Soldiers, your Hriskil is mean, petty and vain. His life is not worth yours. Sarazon knew this, and Danzik. Whom else must I destroy? GO HOME!” I looked from eye to eye, as men bristling with arms jostled for view. I raised my voice to its full might. “Norland king, I deny you Caledon!”
To my cohort, softly, “Turn, one by one.”
My spine crawled, expecting the shaft that would end it all.
Head erect, I led our slow retreat into the mist.
Forty
“... LUCKY YOU’RE ALIVE!” Groenfil’s eyes blazed as he bound my flank. An irate wind swirled through the fog, waving the branches of the tree under which I lay.
I forced open aching jaws, spat out the knotted cloth that had muffled my groans. “—told you it wasn’t mortal.”
“It may yet be. Lie back. Anavar, don’t coddle him. I ought kick sense into his rump!” Groenfil’s eyes darted about our makeshift camp, as if seeking a spot to chastise me.
“He’s king!”
“And forgets it. Rodrigo, what was that about?”
Marveling, I let Anavar thrust a cushion behind my head. “Don’t you see, my lord Earl? I meant to cede all, but again we won.”
“WON? You’re—what’s the word, Danzik? Graftig, yes. Crazed.”
“Think you so?” I tried not to let my doubt show. “Why am I alive?”
Groenfil growled, “My point exactly.”
I said, “No, my lord. Consider it. Why?” A moment’s pause, and I answered myself. “They feared to loose shafts on me.”
“It’s ill omen to slay a madman.”
Anavar stirred. “My lord, Roddy’s our king, and brave beyond all—”
“I called him lunatic, not coward!” Groenfil paced, threw up his hands, returned to glare at me. “Explain, sire, if you can.”
“Water, I beg you.” Someone poured; I gulped it down. Eventually, I was sated and had to find words. “Hriskil fears us now more than ever.”
“Hah. That’s why he holds Soushire while we—”
I snapped, “Holds it? He cowers behind its walls! Don’t roll your eyes at me, Groenfil, why dare we camp here?”
“To staunch your blood, lest—”
I demanded, “But why here? It’s an easy pursuit, but you know he’ll send no riders this day.”
“I’ve set outguards.”
“How many?”
Groenfil shifted. “Enough. All right, only six, the men are tired. I ought post more.”
“Not needed. You know as well as I.”
“Well, the Norlanders are unnerved; who wouldn’t be, with a mad king cavorting—”
“I didn’t cavort.” Wait. Wasn’t I refuting the wrong charge? I pressed on. “I walked to the very foot of their walls. I showed no fear. Of course they’re unnerved.”
“Danzik, do you know enough Caled to follow? Tell him getting away with a daft escapade isn’t the same as winning.”
The Norlander was silent. After a moment we both turned from him.
I said, “Hriskil holds territory, that’s all. Stones and gates. I have their spirits. You’ll see.”
Groenfil shook his head. “Sire, Lord of Nature knows I admire your courage. But you’ve won nothing except a wound. On that, nothing can change my mind.”
“Time will tell.” I lay back, riding out the throb of my ribs. “You were magnificent. Both of you.” At that, Anavar flushed with pleasure.
Groenfil shrugged. “We followed your lead. But flattery moves me not. All you won—” From the edge of camp, an alarm. The earl bolted to his feet, drew his sword.
A perimeter guard galloped to our refuge under the tree, threw himself from his mount. “Sire! My lord!”
Groenfil snapped, “How many?”
He gaped. “Five, sir. Four guards, that is, and—and—”
“Spit it out!”
“Lady Soushire!”
Groenfil swung to me. His mouth worked. “How do you manage it? Is it the cursed Still?”
I said naught.
“Shall I bring her to you?”
Elryc’s pale face swam before me, and faded. I said, “Hang her. I’ll chat with her after.” Resolutely, I turned my head.
With a weary sigh, I let Anavar cloak me. He drew the cloth across my bound ribs, in an effort to hide my wound.
I thrust it open. “What do we conceal? Every Norl on the wall saw my blood.”
“She need not know how deep—”
“I walk. That tells her the gist of it.”
Across the field, Larissa, surrounded by our guards, sat sidesaddle on her palfrey, her pudgy neck as yet unroped. Groenfil and Anavar had refused my orders, at first with arguments, then with mute stubbornness. “You don’t mean it, Roddy.” By the demons’ lake, I did. She’d not leave the meadow alive, if I had say in the matter. But to pacify them, I must first grant her audience.
With distaste, I looked past the swaying grasses, the swirling leaves. Groenfil was restraining himself, but barely. Recollecting his gales of rage at Larissa’s betrayal, I grimaced. We needed no more of that.
Taking care not to stumble and tear myself apart, I trudged across the field, Anavar and the ever-curious Danzik plodding at my side. I glared up at her, still mounted. “Well?”
Lady Soushire looked cross. “Where’s Sergo?”
“Knotting a rope.” My tone was sharp.
“Rodrigo, we haven’t time for play. You left spoor that a blind man could follow. He’ll be upon us.”
“Who?” I knew full well her meaning.
“Hriskil. The enemy.”
“Yours or mine?”
She frowned. “Ours.”
“Odd, then, that he stretches his feet at your fire.”
“What was I to do? You left me to siege!” She shifted in her fine-sewn leather saddle. “What thought you, Rodrigo, that I’d take on the whole Norland might, when you yourself fled?”
My mouth worked. “I’ve been afield without cease. We sought combat. We killed Sarazon. We bearded Hriskil at your very gate. What more would you?” My fists clenched. Here I sounded the supplicant, I who’d been mightily wronged. I clamped shut my jaw.
“I’d have you finish what you started. Make war!”
“Why, when disloyal vassals do Hriskil’s work?” Our converse had gone impossibly awry. I wrenched it back on course. “Why came you here to your death?”
“Bah. You can’t afford to execute me, and you know it.”
“Do I, now?” I turned to Anavar. “Have ever you heard such affront?”
He didn’t answer me directly. “Why not, madam?”
“You’d charge me with treason, Rodrigo? Then, I claim appeal to the king’s council. Assemble the nobles, and we’ll see if I’m condemned.” She knew full well such a gathering was impossible in war. Worse, in council she’d play one side against another and soon have us at each other’s throats, as had Uncle Mar. Her hand stayed my hot reply. “I know where Hriskil took Elryc.”
My heart leaped. “Where?”
“Kill me and you’ll never know.”
My eyes burned into hers. After a time she shifted. “You’re witness, Anavar, that I tell him freely. I gave not the king’s brother to Hriskil. All under my roof were to have safe-conduct.” To me, “Elryc’s sent to Wayvere.”
I frowned. “Where?”
Anavar said, “A seacoast town in Eiber, near the Norl border. At home, we call i
t Wyvern.”
“Oh, that.” It was said to be a low coarse place, but Tantroth’s best harbor. The town from which he’d assembled his own invasion of Caledon, a year past, and now in Hriskil’s hands. Why would Hriskil send my brother there? I turned suspiciously to Larissa. “How know you this?”
A small smile. “A lord ought know what is spoken of in her castle.”
“And how came you to escape?”
“By your aid. When you—how should I say it—dissolved into the mist, there was much rushing about. Hriskil’s lieutenant was all for chasing after you, but Hriskil forbade it. ‘Not in fog,’ he roared to his chieftains. ‘Fog augments his Still.’ ”
“Does it, now?” My lips curled in a grim smile. I’d have to employ Hriskil’s fear.
Larissa added offhandedly, “In the confusion, I slipped out.”
“Just like that.” I regarded her with deep skepticism.
“I’d, ah, made preparations.” Lady Soushire sat straighter. “Hriskil went back on his word the very moment the gates were opened. If I stayed, soon or late he’d have me in chains.” Of course. The Norland idea of vade, honor, was a good trick.
“Elryc captured, your sturdy, well-defended walls in Hriskil’s hands ... all for what? His promises? His gold?”
“I couldn’t hold—”
I shouted, “You barely tried! Groenfil nearly died for your treason!” I brought my voice down. “Now is your time.”
She said calmly, “Alive, I have value to you. Townsmen and churls will see: I know you and Hriskil, and choose you. And I’m proof of your mercy.”
My mouth worked. “Anavar, take her from my sight. This instant, you clod! Lead her from camp!”
“Until ... ?”
“Until—we’ll—I need speak with Groenfil.” And I fled.
“To my dearest friend and lord king, from his servant Rustin of Stryx, greetings.
“Words cannot convey how my heart swells at your exploit before the walls of Soushire. And yet I know full well I couldn’t have countenanced it were I at your side. Truly, you’ve proven I need leave you, that you be a great king.
“Elryc’s capture is outrage beyond bearing. I’m astounded you let Larissa live. By what honeyed words did she melt your heart?”
I set down the parchment, scowled into the middle distance. Not Lady Soushire’s honeyed words, but the unspoken anguish of Lord Groenfil’s eyes. And poor, shabby-souled Larissa was no villain, merely a grasping woman who could see not a whit past her immediate self-interest. Perhaps she’d even believed Hriskil’s assurance her guests would go unmolested. Thank Lord of Nature Tresa had the sense to avoid Larissa’s clutches, though at the time I’d reprimanded her for it. I sighed.
“Roddy, I fear your plan to remain afield seems sound. As Soushire’s capture shows, battlements offer only an illusion of safety. Continue, then, to harry the Norland foe as best you may, but, I pray you, let Kadar guard you again, now Pardos is gone. If opportunity arises to turn the tide, I’m confident you’ll seize it.
“Take heart, at least, that Keep and Castle are reunited. Behind the castle’s stout walls above, Lady Tresa and Chancellor Willem continue to gather adherents, and I have no doubt whatsoever of their constancy to your cause. Meanwhile, the Keep will not fall whilst I live.
“I passed on to Lady Tresa the words you wished, and her heart seems lightened. I urge you, be gallant and open to her your soul. You’ll both take benefit.
“My dear liege, I miss you so, I’m half crazed from it. I shouldn’t write that—no, I will, for respect of the honesty between us, and for fear one or the other of us shall die with the truth unsaid. Rustin, your friend ever, awaits your next missive.”
I carefully rolled the parchment, thrust it in my saddlebag. I’d write him again anon.
In the fortnight since I’d bearded Hriskil in Soushire, we’d roamed the hills, avoiding main roads, striking wearily at Hriskil’s columns. As winter approached, our war was in danger of dissolving into mere bandit raids. It was with heavy heart that I set us plodding toward Verein and resupply.
Inexplicably, Larissa, Lady Soushire, had managed to attach herself to us. Well, it was explicable in that I vacillated about having her hanged, until she’d become again a fixture in our camp.
Four days we were on the road to Verein, where Lady Varess and Mar’s son, Bayard, watched over denuded walls. They made no effort to deny us entry.
My bondsman Tanner went off with my mount. For a few moments I wandered about the courtyard, then followed to the stable. Tanner, stretching on his toes, made himself busy untacking and rubbing down my mare. I perched on a barrel while he refilled the water trough, laid a light blanket over the mare’s back. A rough wooden bowl held a few carrots; idly I took a handful. One, at least, would go to my mare: gift, or bribe.
I kept a sharp eye, for Tanner’s sake. I’d already noticed the mare had an evil temper—one was safe enough on her back, but afterward ... She hadn’t had a chunk of my shoulder, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. I sighed. A far cry, this beast, from Ebon. But she had wonderful gaits and picked up the canter so eagerly she left the rest in the dust, so I was of a mind to overlook her peculiarities.
I paced. Verein was safety, of a sort, but our presence didn’t feel right. How could I tarry here, while Elryc languished in captivity? Why Verein, and not Stryx, if I must abandon the field?
I wandered into the stall, but Tanner wasn’t yet done. Idly, I reached through the slats to the adjoining stall and rubbed the neck of the shaggy black horse within. He whinnied, and nuzzled my fingers He reminded me so of Ebon, I swallowed a lump. Smiling, I fed him a carrot. He munched contentedly, as was Ebon’s wont.
Behind me, a neigh of fury. My mare reared up, hurling Tanner to the straw. Her eyes rolled back in her head. I snapped, “Tanner, out! Be quick!” My mare lashed out as the boy scrambled. Her heels barely missed Tanner’s ribs.
Tanner hurtled into the alleyway. I slammed shut the gate, tied the rope. The mare careened about the stall, rearing, kicking, voicing her rage.
My voice was a whisper. “It was only a carrot!” How could a casual treat provoke such jealousy? Oh, Ebon, will I ever see your like?
Forlorn, I draped an arm about Tanner and walked him to the castle. My apparent unfairness in rewarding the shaggy mount who’d done no work, rather than my own charge, had driven the mare to frenzy. Must I take such care with my nobles as well, that they not betray me over trifles? Had I somehow been the instrument of Lady Soushire’s disloyalty?
Later, from the battlements I looked about, my expression sour. I might as well have gone to Stryx; there, at least, I might mingle with Tresa and Rustin, and perhaps we could plot Elryc’s release, or at least offer ransom. Still, even now, I might seek their counsel. The thought buzzed like a persistent fly at my trencher, one I couldn’t wave away.
It was to escape it that I sallied forth.
Forty-one
JUST PAST THE VEREIN CROSSROADS, our column stumbled upon a small train of wagons, a mere forty Norlanders and guards, wending their way down to the coast. But, why? Hriskil had no outpost south of Stryx that we knew of, and the city was in Caled hands.
A whispered conference, on horseback, in our refuge among the trees. Even our mere hundreds heavily outnumbered the foe, and we sorely needed what provisions we might seize. Moreover, where were the wagons bound, and why? We had to know.
To take best advantage of our disparity, we committed nearly all our force. We were almost ideally situated. Groenfil’s faithful horsemen would withdraw a furlong farther from the road, hurry ahead, creep back toward the trail and fall upon the wagons from a small rise that offered nearly ideal concealment in brush. I agreed, and made ready, but Groenfil and Kadar urged me to hold myself apart; there was no glory in a mere skirmish, yet I might be downed by a stray shaft. Reluctantly, that their minds be eased, I consented. Larissa was directed to remain with me; Groenfil’s glance sealed with mine a pact: I’d stand sentr
y, lest she do some evil.
Kadar and a squad of horsemen kept vigil with me, though Anavar begged so piteously to be allowed the battle, I let him go. Even Danzik drifted off, though I knew he would raise no hand against his kinsmen.
Taking great care to make no sound, Groenfil led his horsemen farther into the wood, to loop beyond the first of the Norland wagons.
Near an hour passed. Nervously, I paced my mount. “What’s keeping them?”
Kadar said, “The wagons make no haste. Groenfil must wait ’til they near, else his surprise fails.”
Distant cries and alarms. The battle had begun.
I said, “Watch the road.” It wouldn’t be long before Groenfil sent a signalman that all was well.
A rumble rolled across the hills, as distant thunder. Rain would muddy the road, but not soon. The wagons would be ours. Surely they already were. Where was—
The thunder grew louder.
I glanced about.
Kadar licked his lips. “My liege—”
A trooper shouted, “The ridge!”
I wheeled. The ridge was dark with horsemen. Groenfil, returned so soon? And why was he on the far side of the road?
I took sharp breath. “Ride for your lives! No, down the road! Toward Groenfil!” My heels stabbed the mare’s sturdy flanks.
Before I could plunge onto the road, it filled with Norland cavalry. I wheeled about, urged my perspiring mount up the hill. A branch loomed. I ducked it. Once past the woods, we’d have open meadow. With luck we’d—
Behind me, a desperate cry. I glanced over my shoulder. Bouton, Kadar’s chief aide, was down, his foot caught in his stirrup. His frantic stallion dragged him over rock-strewn turf. I turned to urge the mare and caught a low limb in the forehead. Almost, I fell, but with desperate clutch of legs and arms caught myself. Salt blood gushed, blinding me.
“This way, Roddy!”
I reeled, wiping my brow.
“Give me your reins!”
I tried and toppled from the saddle.
Strong hands seized me, heaved me upward. I did what I could to help. My rescuer caught my left wrist, twisted it hard. I cried out. Someone clawed at my dagger.
The King (Rodrigo of Caledon Book 2) Page 54
